| git-p4(1) |
| ========= |
| |
| NAME |
| ---- |
| git-p4 - Import from and submit to Perforce repositories |
| |
| |
| SYNOPSIS |
| -------- |
| [verse] |
| 'git p4 clone' [<sync options>] [<clone options>] <p4 depot path>... |
| 'git p4 sync' [<sync options>] [<p4 depot path>...] |
| 'git p4 rebase' |
| 'git p4 submit' [<submit options>] [<master branch name>] |
| |
| |
| DESCRIPTION |
| ----------- |
| This command provides a way to interact with p4 repositories |
| using Git. |
| |
| Create a new Git repository from an existing p4 repository using |
| 'git p4 clone', giving it one or more p4 depot paths. Incorporate |
| new commits from p4 changes with 'git p4 sync'. The 'sync' command |
| is also used to include new branches from other p4 depot paths. |
| Submit Git changes back to p4 using 'git p4 submit'. The command |
| 'git p4 rebase' does a sync plus rebases the current branch onto |
| the updated p4 remote branch. |
| |
| |
| EXAMPLE |
| ------- |
| * Clone a repository: |
| + |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project |
| ------------ |
| |
| * Do some work in the newly created Git repository: |
| + |
| ------------ |
| $ cd project |
| $ vi foo.h |
| $ git commit -a -m "edited foo.h" |
| ------------ |
| |
| * Update the Git repository with recent changes from p4, rebasing your |
| work on top: |
| + |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 rebase |
| ------------ |
| |
| * Submit your commits back to p4: |
| + |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 submit |
| ------------ |
| |
| |
| COMMANDS |
| -------- |
| |
| Clone |
| ~~~~~ |
| Generally, 'git p4 clone' is used to create a new Git directory |
| from an existing p4 repository: |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project |
| ------------ |
| This: |
| |
| 1. Creates an empty Git repository in a subdirectory called 'project'. |
| + |
| 2. Imports the full contents of the head revision from the given p4 |
| depot path into a single commit in the Git branch 'refs/remotes/p4/master'. |
| + |
| 3. Creates a local branch, 'master' from this remote and checks it out. |
| |
| To reproduce the entire p4 history in Git, use the '@all' modifier on |
| the depot path: |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 clone //depot/path/project@all |
| ------------ |
| |
| |
| Sync |
| ~~~~ |
| As development continues in the p4 repository, those changes can |
| be included in the Git repository using: |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 sync |
| ------------ |
| This command finds new changes in p4 and imports them as Git commits. |
| |
| P4 repositories can be added to an existing Git repository using |
| 'git p4 sync' too: |
| ------------ |
| $ mkdir repo-git |
| $ cd repo-git |
| $ git init |
| $ git p4 sync //path/in/your/perforce/depot |
| ------------ |
| This imports the specified depot into |
| 'refs/remotes/p4/master' in an existing Git repository. The |
| '--branch' option can be used to specify a different branch to |
| be used for the p4 content. |
| |
| If a Git repository includes branches 'refs/remotes/origin/p4', these |
| will be fetched and consulted first during a 'git p4 sync'. Since |
| importing directly from p4 is considerably slower than pulling changes |
| from a Git remote, this can be useful in a multi-developer environment. |
| |
| If there are multiple branches, doing 'git p4 sync' will automatically |
| use the "BRANCH DETECTION" algorithm to try to partition new changes |
| into the right branch. This can be overridden with the '--branch' |
| option to specify just a single branch to update. |
| |
| |
| Rebase |
| ~~~~~~ |
| A common working pattern is to fetch the latest changes from the p4 depot |
| and merge them with local uncommitted changes. Often, the p4 repository |
| is the ultimate location for all code, thus a rebase workflow makes |
| sense. This command does 'git p4 sync' followed by 'git rebase' to move |
| local commits on top of updated p4 changes. |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 rebase |
| ------------ |
| |
| |
| Submit |
| ~~~~~~ |
| Submitting changes from a Git repository back to the p4 repository |
| requires a separate p4 client workspace. This should be specified |
| using the 'P4CLIENT' environment variable or the Git configuration |
| variable 'git-p4.client'. The p4 client must exist, but the client root |
| will be created and populated if it does not already exist. |
| |
| To submit all changes that are in the current Git branch but not in |
| the 'p4/master' branch, use: |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 submit |
| ------------ |
| |
| To specify a branch other than the current one, use: |
| ------------ |
| $ git p4 submit topicbranch |
| ------------ |
| |
| The upstream reference is generally 'refs/remotes/p4/master', but can |
| be overridden using the '--origin=' command-line option. |
| |
| The p4 changes will be created as the user invoking 'git p4 submit'. The |
| '--preserve-user' option will cause ownership to be modified |
| according to the author of the Git commit. This option requires admin |
| privileges in p4, which can be granted using 'p4 protect'. |
| |
| |
| OPTIONS |
| ------- |
| |
| General options |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| All commands except clone accept these options. |
| |
| --git-dir <dir>:: |
| Set the 'GIT_DIR' environment variable. See linkgit:git[1]. |
| |
| -v:: |
| --verbose:: |
| Provide more progress information. |
| |
| Sync options |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| These options can be used in the initial 'clone' as well as in |
| subsequent 'sync' operations. |
| |
| --branch <ref>:: |
| Import changes into <ref> instead of refs/remotes/p4/master. |
| If <ref> starts with refs/, it is used as is. Otherwise, if |
| it does not start with p4/, that prefix is added. |
| + |
| By default a <ref> not starting with refs/ is treated as the |
| name of a remote-tracking branch (under refs/remotes/). This |
| behavior can be modified using the --import-local option. |
| + |
| The default <ref> is "master". |
| + |
| This example imports a new remote "p4/proj2" into an existing |
| Git repository: |
| + |
| ---- |
| $ git init |
| $ git p4 sync --branch=refs/remotes/p4/proj2 //depot/proj2 |
| ---- |
| |
| --detect-branches:: |
| Use the branch detection algorithm to find new paths in p4. It is |
| documented below in "BRANCH DETECTION". |
| |
| --changesfile <file>:: |
| Import exactly the p4 change numbers listed in 'file', one per |
| line. Normally, 'git p4' inspects the current p4 repository |
| state and detects the changes it should import. |
| |
| --silent:: |
| Do not print any progress information. |
| |
| --detect-labels:: |
| Query p4 for labels associated with the depot paths, and add |
| them as tags in Git. Limited usefulness as only imports labels |
| associated with new changelists. Deprecated. |
| |
| --import-labels:: |
| Import labels from p4 into Git. |
| |
| --import-local:: |
| By default, p4 branches are stored in 'refs/remotes/p4/', |
| where they will be treated as remote-tracking branches by |
| linkgit:git-branch[1] and other commands. This option instead |
| puts p4 branches in 'refs/heads/p4/'. Note that future |
| sync operations must specify '--import-local' as well so that |
| they can find the p4 branches in refs/heads. |
| |
| --max-changes <n>:: |
| Limit the number of imported changes to 'n'. Useful to |
| limit the amount of history when using the '@all' p4 revision |
| specifier. |
| |
| --keep-path:: |
| The mapping of file names from the p4 depot path to Git, by |
| default, involves removing the entire depot path. With this |
| option, the full p4 depot path is retained in Git. For example, |
| path '//depot/main/foo/bar.c', when imported from |
| '//depot/main/', becomes 'foo/bar.c'. With '--keep-path', the |
| Git path is instead 'depot/main/foo/bar.c'. |
| |
| --use-client-spec:: |
| Use a client spec to find the list of interesting files in p4. |
| See the "CLIENT SPEC" section below. |
| |
| Clone options |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| These options can be used in an initial 'clone', along with the 'sync' |
| options described above. |
| |
| --destination <directory>:: |
| Where to create the Git repository. If not provided, the last |
| component in the p4 depot path is used to create a new |
| directory. |
| |
| --bare:: |
| Perform a bare clone. See linkgit:git-clone[1]. |
| |
| -/ <path>:: |
| Exclude selected depot paths when cloning. |
| |
| Submit options |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| These options can be used to modify 'git p4 submit' behavior. |
| |
| --origin <commit>:: |
| Upstream location from which commits are identified to submit to |
| p4. By default, this is the most recent p4 commit reachable |
| from 'HEAD'. |
| |
| -M:: |
| Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. Renames will be |
| represented in p4 using explicit 'move' operations. There |
| is no corresponding option to detect copies, but there are |
| variables for both moves and copies. |
| |
| --preserve-user:: |
| Re-author p4 changes before submitting to p4. This option |
| requires p4 admin privileges. |
| |
| --export-labels:: |
| Export tags from Git as p4 labels. Tags found in Git are applied |
| to the perforce working directory. |
| |
| -n:: |
| --dry-run:: |
| Show just what commits would be submitted to p4; do not change |
| state in Git or p4. |
| |
| --prepare-p4-only:: |
| Apply a commit to the p4 workspace, opening, adding and deleting |
| files in p4 as for a normal submit operation. Do not issue the |
| final "p4 submit", but instead print a message about how to |
| submit manually or revert. This option always stops after the |
| first (oldest) commit. Git tags are not exported to p4. |
| |
| --conflict=(ask|skip|quit):: |
| Conflicts can occur when applying a commit to p4. When this |
| happens, the default behavior ("ask") is to prompt whether to |
| skip this commit and continue, or quit. This option can be used |
| to bypass the prompt, causing conflicting commits to be automatically |
| skipped, or to quit trying to apply commits, without prompting. |
| |
| --branch <branch>:: |
| After submitting, sync this named branch instead of the default |
| p4/master. See the "Sync options" section above for more |
| information. |
| |
| Rebase options |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| These options can be used to modify 'git p4 rebase' behavior. |
| |
| --import-labels:: |
| Import p4 labels. |
| |
| DEPOT PATH SYNTAX |
| ----------------- |
| The p4 depot path argument to 'git p4 sync' and 'git p4 clone' can |
| be one or more space-separated p4 depot paths, with an optional |
| p4 revision specifier on the end: |
| |
| "//depot/my/project":: |
| Import one commit with all files in the '#head' change under that tree. |
| |
| "//depot/my/project@all":: |
| Import one commit for each change in the history of that depot path. |
| |
| "//depot/my/project@1,6":: |
| Import only changes 1 through 6. |
| |
| "//depot/proj1@all //depot/proj2@all":: |
| Import all changes from both named depot paths into a single |
| repository. Only files below these directories are included. |
| There is not a subdirectory in Git for each "proj1" and "proj2". |
| You must use the '--destination' option when specifying more |
| than one depot path. The revision specifier must be specified |
| identically on each depot path. If there are files in the |
| depot paths with the same name, the path with the most recently |
| updated version of the file is the one that appears in Git. |
| |
| See 'p4 help revisions' for the full syntax of p4 revision specifiers. |
| |
| |
| CLIENT SPEC |
| ----------- |
| The p4 client specification is maintained with the 'p4 client' command |
| and contains among other fields, a View that specifies how the depot |
| is mapped into the client repository. The 'clone' and 'sync' commands |
| can consult the client spec when given the '--use-client-spec' option or |
| when the useClientSpec variable is true. After 'git p4 clone', the |
| useClientSpec variable is automatically set in the repository |
| configuration file. This allows future 'git p4 submit' commands to |
| work properly; the submit command looks only at the variable and does |
| not have a command-line option. |
| |
| The full syntax for a p4 view is documented in 'p4 help views'. 'git p4' |
| knows only a subset of the view syntax. It understands multi-line |
| mappings, overlays with '+', exclusions with '-' and double-quotes |
| around whitespace. Of the possible wildcards, 'git p4' only handles |
| '...', and only when it is at the end of the path. 'git p4' will complain |
| if it encounters an unhandled wildcard. |
| |
| Bugs in the implementation of overlap mappings exist. If multiple depot |
| paths map through overlays to the same location in the repository, |
| 'git p4' can choose the wrong one. This is hard to solve without |
| dedicating a client spec just for 'git p4'. |
| |
| The name of the client can be given to 'git p4' in multiple ways. The |
| variable 'git-p4.client' takes precedence if it exists. Otherwise, |
| normal p4 mechanisms of determining the client are used: environment |
| variable P4CLIENT, a file referenced by P4CONFIG, or the local host name. |
| |
| |
| BRANCH DETECTION |
| ---------------- |
| P4 does not have the same concept of a branch as Git. Instead, |
| p4 organizes its content as a directory tree, where by convention |
| different logical branches are in different locations in the tree. |
| The 'p4 branch' command is used to maintain mappings between |
| different areas in the tree, and indicate related content. 'git p4' |
| can use these mappings to determine branch relationships. |
| |
| If you have a repository where all the branches of interest exist as |
| subdirectories of a single depot path, you can use '--detect-branches' |
| when cloning or syncing to have 'git p4' automatically find |
| subdirectories in p4, and to generate these as branches in Git. |
| |
| For example, if the P4 repository structure is: |
| ---- |
| //depot/main/... |
| //depot/branch1/... |
| ---- |
| |
| And "p4 branch -o branch1" shows a View line that looks like: |
| ---- |
| //depot/main/... //depot/branch1/... |
| ---- |
| |
| Then this 'git p4 clone' command: |
| ---- |
| git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all |
| ---- |
| produces a separate branch in 'refs/remotes/p4/' for //depot/main, |
| called 'master', and one for //depot/branch1 called 'depot/branch1'. |
| |
| However, it is not necessary to create branches in p4 to be able to use |
| them like branches. Because it is difficult to infer branch |
| relationships automatically, a Git configuration setting |
| 'git-p4.branchList' can be used to explicitly identify branch |
| relationships. It is a list of "source:destination" pairs, like a |
| simple p4 branch specification, where the "source" and "destination" are |
| the path elements in the p4 repository. The example above relied on the |
| presence of the p4 branch. Without p4 branches, the same result will |
| occur with: |
| ---- |
| git init depot |
| cd depot |
| git config git-p4.branchList main:branch1 |
| git p4 clone --detect-branches //depot@all . |
| ---- |
| |
| |
| PERFORMANCE |
| ----------- |
| The fast-import mechanism used by 'git p4' creates one pack file for |
| each invocation of 'git p4 sync'. Normally, Git garbage compression |
| (linkgit:git-gc[1]) automatically compresses these to fewer pack files, |
| but explicit invocation of 'git repack -adf' may improve performance. |
| |
| |
| CONFIGURATION VARIABLES |
| ----------------------- |
| The following config settings can be used to modify 'git p4' behavior. |
| They all are in the 'git-p4' section. |
| |
| General variables |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| git-p4.user:: |
| User specified as an option to all p4 commands, with '-u <user>'. |
| The environment variable 'P4USER' can be used instead. |
| |
| git-p4.password:: |
| Password specified as an option to all p4 commands, with |
| '-P <password>'. |
| The environment variable 'P4PASS' can be used instead. |
| |
| git-p4.port:: |
| Port specified as an option to all p4 commands, with |
| '-p <port>'. |
| The environment variable 'P4PORT' can be used instead. |
| |
| git-p4.host:: |
| Host specified as an option to all p4 commands, with |
| '-h <host>'. |
| The environment variable 'P4HOST' can be used instead. |
| |
| git-p4.client:: |
| Client specified as an option to all p4 commands, with |
| '-c <client>', including the client spec. |
| |
| Clone and sync variables |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| git-p4.syncFromOrigin:: |
| Because importing commits from other Git repositories is much faster |
| than importing them from p4, a mechanism exists to find p4 changes |
| first in Git remotes. If branches exist under 'refs/remote/origin/p4', |
| those will be fetched and used when syncing from p4. This |
| variable can be set to 'false' to disable this behavior. |
| |
| git-p4.branchUser:: |
| One phase in branch detection involves looking at p4 branches |
| to find new ones to import. By default, all branches are |
| inspected. This option limits the search to just those owned |
| by the single user named in the variable. |
| |
| git-p4.branchList:: |
| List of branches to be imported when branch detection is |
| enabled. Each entry should be a pair of branch names separated |
| by a colon (:). This example declares that both branchA and |
| branchB were created from main: |
| + |
| ------------- |
| git config git-p4.branchList main:branchA |
| git config --add git-p4.branchList main:branchB |
| ------------- |
| |
| git-p4.ignoredP4Labels:: |
| List of p4 labels to ignore. This is built automatically as |
| unimportable labels are discovered. |
| |
| git-p4.importLabels:: |
| Import p4 labels into git, as per --import-labels. |
| |
| git-p4.labelImportRegexp:: |
| Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be imported. The |
| default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. |
| |
| git-p4.useClientSpec:: |
| Specify that the p4 client spec should be used to identify p4 |
| depot paths of interest. This is equivalent to specifying the |
| option '--use-client-spec'. See the "CLIENT SPEC" section above. |
| This variable is a boolean, not the name of a p4 client. |
| |
| Submit variables |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| git-p4.detectRenames:: |
| Detect renames. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true, |
| false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -M'. |
| |
| git-p4.detectCopies:: |
| Detect copies. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. This can be true, |
| false, or a score as expected by 'git diff -C'. |
| |
| git-p4.detectCopiesHarder:: |
| Detect copies harder. See linkgit:git-diff[1]. A boolean. |
| |
| git-p4.preserveUser:: |
| On submit, re-author changes to reflect the Git author, |
| regardless of who invokes 'git p4 submit'. |
| |
| git-p4.allowMissingP4Users:: |
| When 'preserveUser' is true, 'git p4' normally dies if it |
| cannot find an author in the p4 user map. This setting |
| submits the change regardless. |
| |
| git-p4.skipSubmitEdit:: |
| The submit process invokes the editor before each p4 change |
| is submitted. If this setting is true, though, the editing |
| step is skipped. |
| |
| git-p4.skipSubmitEditCheck:: |
| After editing the p4 change message, 'git p4' makes sure that |
| the description really was changed by looking at the file |
| modification time. This option disables that test. |
| |
| git-p4.allowSubmit:: |
| By default, any branch can be used as the source for a 'git p4 |
| submit' operation. This configuration variable, if set, permits only |
| the named branches to be used as submit sources. Branch names |
| must be the short names (no "refs/heads/"), and should be |
| separated by commas (","), with no spaces. |
| |
| git-p4.skipUserNameCheck:: |
| If the user running 'git p4 submit' does not exist in the p4 |
| user map, 'git p4' exits. This option can be used to force |
| submission regardless. |
| |
| git-p4.attemptRCSCleanup:: |
| If enabled, 'git p4 submit' will attempt to cleanup RCS keywords |
| ($Header$, etc). These would otherwise cause merge conflicts and prevent |
| the submit going ahead. This option should be considered experimental at |
| present. |
| |
| git-p4.exportLabels:: |
| Export Git tags to p4 labels, as per --export-labels. |
| |
| git-p4.labelExportRegexp:: |
| Only p4 labels matching this regular expression will be exported. The |
| default value is '[a-zA-Z0-9_\-.]+$'. |
| |
| git-p4.conflict:: |
| Specify submit behavior when a conflict with p4 is found, as per |
| --conflict. The default behavior is 'ask'. |
| |
| IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS |
| ---------------------- |
| * Changesets from p4 are imported using Git fast-import. |
| * Cloning or syncing does not require a p4 client; file contents are |
| collected using 'p4 print'. |
| * Submitting requires a p4 client, which is not in the same location |
| as the Git repository. Patches are applied, one at a time, to |
| this p4 client and submitted from there. |
| * Each commit imported by 'git p4' has a line at the end of the log |
| message indicating the p4 depot location and change number. This |
| line is used by later 'git p4 sync' operations to know which p4 |
| changes are new. |